Foga is a football assistant and is entering his second season head baseball coach for the Cougars in 2019.

“South Decatur has been a football school for years,” says Foga. “The interest in baseball at South is not as high as I would like it.”

“Within my first two years, I’ve received a lot of support from parents, administrators and players,” says Foga, who is also in his fourth year as a fine arts and digital design teacher. “We’ve tried to implement a lot of things they were not used to. It’s made that process of who’s in charge and how it’s run much smoother than I’ve expected.

“I’ve gotten buy-in from the kids.”

South Decatur, located 13 miles southwest of Greensburg, plays its game on its campus located along Indiana 3.

That field has been re-edged. Dirt and field conditioner have been added and it’s been rolled to get truer ground balls.

Conference teams play each other twice in home-and-home series, usually on back-to-back days.

The Cougars are in an IHSAA sectional grouping with Hauser, Jac-Cen-Del, North Decatur, Oldenburg Academy and Rising Sun. Jac-Cen-Del has lights and has been the host site in recent years. South Decatur won its two sectional championships in 1972 and 1976.

Foga says 26 boys have signed up for tryouts and 16 will be kept for a varsity-only season. As is the case at most small schools, pitching is at a premium.

“Everybody that plays starts out pitching,” says Foga. “Of our potential roster, 10 to 12 guys will pitch for us throughout the year.”

Foga, who is assisted by Anthony Jarvis, Ben Vanderbur and Joe Storm, says his team has benefitted from the new IHSAA limited contact rules (two days of baseball activity two days a week during certain periods).

“Not having a true feeder system in place, it has allowed me to get in the gym and work on those fundamentals early,” says Foga. “We can keep moving and progressing forward.”

The start of spring break at South Decatur coincides with the first official day of practice (March 11).

“Kids will practicing on spring break to be able to hit their (IHSAA) practice count before the season begins,” says Foga.

To create a feeder, a junior high baseball club is starting this spring. Games will be played against many of the schools in the Mid-Hoosier Conference.

There is a local youth league, but it does not play by high school rules. There is no leading off etc. That’s why the junior high program was started.

“The huge thing I learned from him the idea of structure,” says Foga of Howe. “It allows you to focus on what needs to happen and fundamentals.

“He’d tell us that everybody not he team had potential to play at the collegiate level. But potential doesn’t mean anything unless you are able to work for it. I’ve applied that to general life experiences.”

Foga was 5-foot-5 and 125 pounds in high school.

Jennings County football coach Jerry Bland told him not to make that a deal-breaker.

“Coach Bland really pushed me to look past my size and not let that hold me back,” says Foga. “I could take on any challenge.”

He remembers wrestling coach Howard Jones more for what he did off the mat than on it.

“He approached sports in general and coaching almost as a father figure,” says Foga. “He really looked out for the best interests of every kid on the team.

“He wanted you to really strive for what we want in life. He was a really good mentor for all aspects of life.

“I really try to implement that here at South. I want to be a mentor to them, guide them through life’s issues and be a positive role model. A lot of kids we have don’t have that in place.”

In football, Foga has assisted former South Decatur head coach Garry Sauley and was at the junior high level when Tony Bell was varsity head coach.

“For (Sauley), it was always trying to do the right thing and always taking the higher path no matter what the situation was,” says Foga. “(Bell) was passionate about football. He talked about having a passion for something and pushing it.”

Foga, a 2011 graduate of Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis, is married to Tiffany with five boys — Roman (11), Drake (10), Ayden (9), Hudson (7) and Grayson (5). They are all involved in hockey or soccer. Baby No. 6 is due in July.

Eric Foga is head baseball coach at South Decatur Junior/Senior High School near Westport, Ind.

Head coach Eric Foga with his South Decatur Junior/Senior High School baseball team.

Handley had pitched at Auburn University and in the Chicago White Sox system in the mid-1970s.

“A lot of coaching stuff I use came from (Handley),” says Bass, who heads into his 22nd season in charge of the Greenwood Woodmen in 2019. “He taught me drills I still use. He was big on fundamentals and using the bunt and hit-and-run to generate offense. We weren’t a big power team (at Franklin).

“Year in and year out, we’re more of a small-ball team (at Greenwood). We have to execute the bunt, hit-and-run and steal.”

Handley’s pitching know-how and Bass working with pitchers helped him understand the importance of locating pitches and changing eye levels and speeds.

Bass, a 1991 graduate of Triton Central High School, where he played for one season for Kent Tresslar, two for Bruce Stone and one for Tim Smith, coached at Waldron (Ind.) High School in Shelby County his first year out of college. His first season as Greenwood head coach was 1998.

The Woodmen went 8-19 in 2018. They were led offensively by seniors T.J. Bass (.375), Brody Tisdale (.326) and Jordan Martin (.284).

Catcher/outfielder T.J. Bass, the coach’s son, is now at Taylor University. Right-handed pitcher/shortstop Tisdale went to Frontier Community College in Fairfield, Ill.Catcher Jordan Leverett moved on to Anderson University.

Other recent Greenwood graduates going to college baseball include catcher Damon Maynard (Olney Central College in Illinois and an Illinois State University commit), second baseman Jarrett Caster (Franklin College), right-hander Jacob Cutter (Greenville in College in Illinois) and right-hander Reid Werner (University of Indianapolis).

During the Bass era, the Woodmen have produced outfielders Andrew Dimino (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Alex Krupa (MVP in the 2014 Junior College World Series while at Iowa Western Community College and then a player at Indiana University).

Bass sees it as a part of his duties to help a player if they have college baseball aspirations.

“If that’s what they want to do, we do everything we can to help them out,” says Bass. “We talk to coaches and send emails.”

Many times these days, the connection is made through the player’s summer team. But Bass knows he knows the athlete as a student and as part of a family.

“We have a relationship with the player a little better than the travel coach in some of those areas,” says Bass, who has also coached travel ball with the Indiana Astros.

Among those expected back for 2019 at Greenwood are three junior pitchers — Oliver Rau (2-6, 1 save in a team-high 13 appearances), Cameron Crick (2-1 in 10 appearances) and Ben Sobieray (0-5 in 10 appearances).

Bass has kept as many as 45 and as few as 36 players for three teams — varsity, junior varsity and freshmen.

“It depends on where the talent falls and where our needs are,” says Bass, whose teams used two on-campus fields. The higher team plays on the varsity diamond when two are in action at the same time.

A year ago, the varsity field was enclosed for the first time. In the off-season, agricultural lime was added to the warning track and the visitor’s bullpen was re-built. In recent seasons, the dugout railing was extended.

Conference games are played as home-and-home series on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with Thursday as the rain date.

With this format, Bass says teams are forced develop more pitching depth if they wish to compete.

“You must have two good starting pitchers and at least two good relievers and score runs everyday,” says Bass.

The Woodmen are in an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with Center Grove, Franklin Central, Franklin Community, Martinsville and Whiteland.

Greenwood has won eight sectional titles — the last in 1984.

Bass will be assisted in 2019 Mario Buscemi, Ben Sutton and Christian Cruze. Connor Morris works with both the JV and varsity. Sutton leads the freshmen and Cruze is a volunteer with the freshmen.

Greenwood Little League is considered a feeder system for the high school, but many are playing travel ball at a younger age.

“When I was in school, we played summer ball for our high school against other high schools,” says Bass. “Travel ball wasn’t a big thing back then.”

Bass notes that Phil Webster had his Decatur Central team playing in travel ball tournaments in the summer of 2007 then won an IHSAA state title with that group in 2008.

Andy, a math teacher and assistant athletic director, is married to Jenni. The couple has four children — sons T.J. and Sam (a junior second baseman at Greenwood) and daughters (sixth grader Mary and third grader Claire).

Andy Bass is heading into his 22nd season as head baseball coach at Greenwood (Ind.) High School in 2019.

At ISU, Larrison appeared in 84 games (78 in relief) with an 11-13 record, 10 saves, a 4.12 earned run average, 141 strikeouts and 77 walks in 178 1/3 innings. His head coach was Mitch Hannahs and Jordan Tiegs his pitching coach.

In 2018, Larrison pitched in 25 games (all in relief) and went 3-6 with nine saves, a 3.76 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 23 walks in 55 innings for the Sycamores then got into 15 more contests (all out of the bullpen) and went 6-1 with a 3.10 ERA, 16 strikeouts and 10 walks in 20 innings for the Hillsboro (Ore.) Hops of the rookie-level Northwest League.

Between his last college season and first professional campaign, it was as much baseball as Larrison had ever played in one year.

Throwing from a high three-quarter arm slot, Larrison touched 96 mph and sat at 92 to 94 mph with his four-seam fastball near the end of the college season. Fatigue and minor injuries pulled that down to 90 to 92 with Hillsboro. His pitching repertoire also features a “circle” change-up, slider and curveball.

“I try to make it as close to 12-to-6 as possible,” says Larrison of his curve. “It’s not sweeping, but something in the middle.”

Before reporting back to Arizona for spring training in early March, Larrison will be working out and plans to begin throwing again around the middle of November. He will also be serving an internship with the Indiana State baseball program as part of his sport management/marketing major.

Larrison, who is 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, says he enjoyed his time playing for Hughes at Shelbyville.

“He would push us, but he would also gave us room to develop on our own,” says Larrison, who helped the Golden Bears win over 20 games and a Hoosier Heritage Conference title in 2014. “Our team chemistry was really good. We played together since we were younger.”

Ethan is the youngest child of Gary and Amy Larrison. Brandon is the oldest and Caitlyn the second-born. Gary is a saleman and Amy a bank manager. Brandon works in the automotive industry and Caitlyn is on maternity leave as a teacher.

There have been plenty mentors and role models in Ethan’s life, from his father who played catch with him in the front yard and coached some of his teams to his older brother, who was a Shelbyville basketball player.

“I wanted to be as good as him when I was younger,” says Ethan. “It’s important to have quality coaches and I’ve learned a ton from everybody I’ve been with.”

That includes Hannahs and Tiegs at ISU.

“(Hannahs) was very strong on hard work and doing things when nobody’s watching,” says Larrison.

Tiegs helped Larrison and other Sycamore hurlers with a throwing routine that includes weighted balls and helps loosen and strengthen.

“It’s something he used,” says Larrison of Tiegs, who pitched for Sauk Valley Community College and the University of Charleston and with the independent Evansville (Ind.) Otters.

Ethan Larrison, a 2014 Shelbyville (Ind.) High School graduate, pitched four seasons at Indiana State University and made his professional baseball debut in 2018 in the Arizona Diamondbacks system. (Hillsboro Hops Photo)

Ethan Larrison grew up in Indiana and made his pro baseball debut in Oregon in 2018 with the Hillsboro Hops. (Hillsboro Hops Photo)

Former Shelbyville (Ind.) High School and Indiana State University reliever Ethan Larrison pitches out of the stretch for the Hillsboro (Ore.) Hops in 2018. (Hillsboro Hops Photo)

Ethan Larrison pitched in 15 games for the Hillsboro (Ore.) Hops and was invited to the fall instructional league by the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Hillsboro Hops Photo)

Ethan Larrison throws a pitch for the Hillsboro (Ore.) Hops in 2018. He played high school baseball in Shelbyville, Ind., and college ball at Indiana State University. (Hillsboro Hops Photo)

A 2004 graduate of the school in Bartholomew County, Long is carrying on the way Jerry Schoen led the program for two decades.

After a season leading the Cincinnati Flames travel team, Long was a varsity assistant to Schoen for five seasons before taking over the Jets for the 2017 season. He had been a manager and a player for Schoen before going to college.

Each team plays 12 conference games. The MHC stages home-and-home series on Thursdays and Fridays.

Long, who was a pitcher at Hauser and for four years at the College of Mt. St. Joseph in Cincinnati (now known as Mt. St. Joseph University), sets his pitching rotation around conference games.

“There’s pitchers and then there’s throwers in my mind,” says Long, who joins with Mike Flack (seventh year in the program) and Doug Johnson (second year in the program) to guide a group of 18 players in varsity and junior varsity action. “I try to develop my kids into pitchers.

“Being a small school, we lean on some kids who don’t have a lot of experience on the mound. When we do our pitching and throwing drills, we do it as a whole team. Sometimes we find kids we didn’t know could pitch.”

“The days off amount is right on,” says Long. “As a coaching staff, we do go down the schedule and pick the games we want certain kids to pitch.”

Working with athletic director Ron Hounshell, Long crafts a challenging non-conference schedule.

“The better the competition, the better we’re going to be,” says Long, who already has or will have his squad square off against 4A’s East Central and Shelbyville, 3A’s Batesville, Greensburg and Lawrenceburg, 2A’s Austin, Henryville and Milan and 1A’s Indianapolis Lutheran, Jac-Cen-Del and Trinity Lutheran.

Hauser played in the Shawe Memorial Sectional in 2017 and now finds itself with a slightly different group (including Jac‐Cen‐Del, North Decatur, Oldenburg Academy, Rising Sun and South Decatur). Jac-Cen-Del looks to be the sectional host this year.

The Jets have won four sectional titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), four regional crowns (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and one semistate championship (2005). The 2005 Jets were 1A state runners-up to Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian.

Jason Burton coached his alma mater — Edinburgh High School in south central Indiana — to an IHSAA sectional baseball championship in his first season as head coach in 2017.

Burton, who is also coming off his first season as head football coach at the school of about 270 students, had originally stepped down in baseball.

“I’m involved at so much at the school, I was going to take a year or two away,” says Burton, who was a substitute teacher and helper in the athletic department while still in college and is now a middle school special education teacher and high school varsity assistant girls basketball coach in addition to his head coaching duties.

But he is back in charge after baseball and football assistant Greg Mose left to become head football coach at Southern Wells.

Burton credits Tatlock, who was an All-American at Indiana State University in 1995, for passing on many baseball lessons.

“He taught me things I was able to implement into my own coaching,” says Burton. “Attention to detail is the big thing.

“It’s having a purpose for every single aspect of the game. Every minute we’re at practice is about productivity.”

The same is true for all the sports Burton coaches.

Former Lancers head football coach Bill Unsworth provided guidance about both the management and structural sides of that game.

Burton went to Ivy Tech Community College of Columbus and then earned an elementary education degree from Indiana University Purdue University Columbus in 2016. While still in college, he was already coaching football on Unsworth’s staff and helping head coaches Cole Zook and Mike Bryant in baseball.

At a school as small as Edinburgh, the three-sport athlete is a necessity to keep programs going.

In June, it’s not unusual for athletes to take part in three sports. After the IHSAA moratorium period in early July, the focus turns to fall sports.

“They go from one thing to another,” says Burton. “We have a small pool to pull kids from.

“Freshmen that are not necessarily for varsity completion are going against 18-year-olds.”

Assisted by Dennis Smith, Kevin Johnson, John Henderson and Eric Cravens, Burton will guide a baseball program through a full varsity schedule and partial junior varsity slate. The Lancers currently have six JV games scheduled.

“I have a large say with what goes on with that,” says Burton, who has younger players learning the same philosophies and terminology used at the high school.

Since Edinburgh is located in three counties — Bartholomew, Johnson and Shelby — many different communities are served by the league.

Not far from the building shared by high school and middle school is Steve Hollenbeck Athletic Complex, home to Lancer baseball, football, softball, tennis and facilities.

Edinburgh belongs to the small-school Mid-Hoosier Conference (along with Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, South Decatur, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron) and is in a 1A sectional group with Greenwood Christian Academy, Indianapolis Lutheran, Morristown, Southwestern and Waldron.

Burton says he would like the IHSAA to come up with a way to seed the sectional so the two best teams don’t meet in the first round of the sectional.

“It could be based off record or a point system with strength of schedule,” says Burton. “It would take everybody getting on-board with it.”

Burton is single. Parents Tim and Angie and older sister Jessica all live in the Edinburgh area.

Jason Burton is the head baseball coach at his alma mater — Edinburgh High School. (Jerrica Smith Photo)